Donald Trump Asks Russia to Hack Into Hillary Clinton’s Emails

"Russia, if you're listening."

Presidential candidate Donald Trump today suggested that Russia should consider hacking into his political opponent's email account to find her "missing emails," according to the Associated Press.

"Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing," Trump said at a Miami press conference today. "I think you'll be rewarded mightily by our press!"

Trump added that the over 30,000 emails that were missing from Clinton's private server were sure to have "some beauties" among them, and that any foreign country who actually attempted the hacking would be demonstrating how little respect they have for the United States.

"It gives me no pause," Trump said. "If Russia or China or any of those country gets those emails, I've got to be honest with you, I'd love to see them."

The New York Times characterized Trump's comments as "essentially encouraging an adversarial foreign power to cyberspy on a secretary of state’s correspondence."

USA Todaypointed out that Trump's comments came as he was attempting to counter some of the publicity of the Democratic National Convention happening in Philadelphia this week.

Last week hackers exposed emails from the Democratic National Committee that showed DNC officials' support for Clinton over Bernie Sanders. The FBI suspects that the massive email leak — which prompted the resignation of DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz — might actually be part of a Russian plot to get Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump elected.

Trump has said he doesn't think Russia was responsible for the hack, according to the AP.

“President Trump would be so much better for U.S.-Russian relations,” Trump said today. “I don’t think [Russian President Vladimir Putin] respects Clinton.”

Trump stands pretty much alone in his call for a foreign adversary to hack into an American's emails. His running mate Mike Pence denounced cyber-spying, according to the AP.

"If it is Russia and they are interfering in our elections, I can assure you both parties and the United States government will ensure there are serious consequences," Pence said in a statement.

A spokesman for Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House, called Russia "a global menace led by a devious thug" in a statement, and said Russia should stay out of the U.S. election.

The Clinton campaign, of course, sided with Pence and Ryan, and went a step further in criticizing Trump's remarks.

"This has to be the first time that a major presidential candidate has actively encouraged a foreign power to conduct espionage against his political opponent," Clinton's chief foreign policy adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement. "That's not hyperbole, those are just the facts. This has gone from being a matter of curiosity, and a matter of politics, to being a national security issue."

President Obama also weighed in on the email controversy, saying that though he doesn't know who's behind the hacking, he wouldn't be surprised if Trump had some sort of relationship with Russia.

"Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed admiration for Vladimir Putin," Obama said during a sit-down with NBC News that aired Tuesday. "And I think that Trump's gotten pretty favorable coverage back in Russia."

Trump said he has no relationship to Putin and does not know if Russia or some other country is responsible for the DNC breach, according to the AP. Russia has denied interfering with the election.